JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes warned on Wednesday that the discount carrier will should cut flights to and from the New York City area this summer attributable to a major shortage of air traffic controllers.
During a discussion on the Economic Club of New York in New York City, Hayes said staffing on the air traffic control center, which handles all inbound, outbound and transit traffic in New York airspace, is just 54% of the number needed.
That compares to the national average of 81%, continued Hayes.
“While we’re ready, we have got planes, we have hired pilots…JetBlue and other airlines will should cut flights to and from New York this summer to cope with it,” Hayes said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that if the industry doesn’t reduce flights in the realm, delays will be 45% greater than last summer, Hayes said.
To place that into perspective, about 350 flights were delayed on daily basis within the New York area last summer, partially due to air traffic control staffing issues, Hayes said, citing FAA figures.
The FAA didn’t immediately reply to FOX Business’s request for comment.
“Imagine it’s 45% worse,” Hayes said. “It’s simply unfeasible.”
Last week, the FAA said that while it “continues to reduce the backlog of air traffic controller training at many FAA air traffic facilities, staffing levels at New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (N90) are still below goal.”
Nevertheless, the agency said it was taking “several steps to make air travel to and from New York this summer protected and smooth.”
To attempt to mitigate the disruption, the agency said it will “give airlines flexibility when it comes to slot utilization requirements. In turn, the FAA expects airlines to take actions to reduce the impact on passengers, including operating larger aircraft to hold more passengers and ensuring that passengers are fully informed of any possible disruption.”
Hayes said this affects JetBlue greater than its rivals because nearly all of its flights, nearly 60%, happen every day in and around New York City.
The news also comes just after the New York airline invested tens of tens of millions of dollars in increasing its workforce.
JetBlue “has hired more people than we have ever hired,” Hayes said, to organize for a busy summer travel season and help New York proceed to get well from the results of the pandemic.
This, nevertheless, “will be a major step backwards in our ability to accomplish that,” he said.
“10% [of flights] that we’re phasing out largely compensates for the expansion that was speculated to follow,” added Hayes.
The manager also noted that it isn’t just New York.
For instance, JetBlue is the biggest airline in Boston, but every southbound flight passes through downtown New York and will even be “subject to similar challenges,” Hayes said.
The CEO added that he would not be surprised if other airlines followed suit.
JetBlue in January predicted that revenue in 2023 would grow from “high single digits to low double digits” and ASM would increase by 5.5% to eight.5%.